Alternate Realities
by kohee
Summary: There are two worlds, one good, one evil, one real, one illusion. The mission of some is to destroy the illusion, and reveal the reality. One person will prove to be the extraordinary key, but he needs to believe in himself. AU based on The Matrix


**Alternate Realities**  
Written by: kohee  
Fandom: Disney; Princess and the Frog  
Summary: There are two worlds, one good, one evil, one real, one illusion. The mission of some is to destroy the illusion, and reveal the reality. Among it all, one person will prove to be the extraordinary key, and he needs to believe in himself. AU based on The Matrix.  
Genre: Action/Adventure/Romance  
Disclaimer: Wants to own but own nothing except pocket lint.  
Author's note: First time I'm attempting a long project in like 456534345 years (for real) so I really really hope I can complete this as I AM excited about the idea, no matter how whacked it may seemed. Please read with an open mind. More notes at the end. :)

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_one: and in the beginning_

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The night was dark, and the moon was dingy and tired, casting a weak light over the silent bayou. The trees and their shadows shifted, and one could barely distinguish between the solid branches of the real trees and the wispy nothingness of its other image.

A frog, very green and rather small, sat alone in the middle of the bayou, barely moving. Its eyes shifted from right, to left, and to the right again, seemingly searching for something.

The waters rippled suddenly, as a log bobbed up onto the surface, and a tiny little splash then revealed the log to be an alligator, large and lethal, with shining eyes and teeth like steak knives. The surprising thing was that the frog barely moved, it remained still as the alligator floated up beside it.

"Tiana." It hissed, and that itself was surprisingly strange even without the frog's reply, and when the frog spoke, it was stranger still.

"Shhhh." The frog answered, out of the corner of its mouth. "Soon, Louis."

"I'm gettin' all stiff from not moving!"

"Louis, please..." The frog's voice broke off as a sobbing howl pierced the silence of the bayou. A shadow then swiped through the trees, blazing across the frog and the alligator, and both snapped to attention.

"Ray!" The frog yelled, as it took off after the shadow, jumping with amazingly fluid and lightning fast leaps, bounding through the bayou as the alligator swiftly dove underwater. Out of nowhere, a small firefly appeared from the trees.

"Comin' at ya, Tiana!" The firefly's behind lit up suddenly, flooding the bayou with light as it flew after the other two.

The chase did not last long, and soon the shadow found itself cornered by the three. It then spoke, its voice wispy and afraid.

"_Don't hurt me."_

The frog hopped forward, its eyes soft. "Don't worry, honey. We're not gonna hurt you. We're here to help."

The shadow shrivelled, and sobbed. _"It hurts."_

"We'll make it stop, okay? I promise." The green frog held out a snaked-shaped talisman, tangled between its fingers. Closing its eyes, it began muttering some words under her breath, and the talisman glowed, as it focused all of its attention onto the talisman.

Its chanting was then broken by a loud roar of fury. "You DO NOT interfere!"

The frog opened its eyes, to see another shadow, its dark teeth bared, swooping down towards her. The alligator leaped up from the waters, its jaw snapping as it threw the shadow aside, and its tail hit out at another one sneaking up from his left.

"Tiana! Hurry!" The firefly blazed through another two vicious shadows, his light burning them as the shadows howled gutturally.

Frantically, the frog focused itself on the talisman and the cowering, sobbing shadow again.

"...Etla Shayma Mandala Ra...Etla Manda...RETURN!"

The shadow shimmered, a light yellow, and then disappeared into the talisman. The frog clapped its fingers over the talisman and quickly wound it around its legs, in three tight circles.

"Louis! Ray! Go!"

"I hate shadows." The alligator moaned as it slammed its tail into another dark shadow, and then it dove into the bayou again, deep underwater, racing after the frog.

"Where is the nearest tree hollow?" The firefly panted, racing beside the frog as it hopped. Behind them, the shadows howled and swirled, and there was the dreaded voice, commanding and loud.

"GET THEM!"

"Not...far..." The frog panted, as it hopped even faster and higher, and then a tree hollow came into sight, standing proudly in the middle of the bayou.

The alligator was the first to reach the tree hollow, and it slapped a clawed front leg onto the bark, and with a shimmer of light, it disappeared. The firefly was next, heading straight down the hollow, where he also disappeared in light.

The frog was last, with the talisman still safely wound around its leg, it was about to hop into the hollow when she gasped, seeing a flash of coffee colour in her green fingers. The shadows moaned and the frog frantically shot out its long tongue, hiding the coffee-coloured front leg, and plunged into the hollow. There was a third flash of light, and they were all gone.

The chasing shadows came into a stop, and a tall, thin lanky man emerged from among them, his eyes narrowed and his mouth pursed.

"Not...again. AHHHHHH!" He threw his head back and raged.

Out of his sight, a small, white kitten slunk back into the trees, chuckling a little to itself.

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In another place, maybe another time, or maybe another dimension, a beautiful young lady - pale and ethereal with hair that was so blond that it was almost white – sat before a cauldron of bubbling liquid, her eyes focused and calm as she muttered chants under her breath. Just beyond the cauldron was a white chalk circle, right in the centre of the room. It was only moments later when three people, two men and one young woman, seemingly appeared – out of thin hair – in a panting heap in the middle of the circle.

"That was good, mission proper, ain't it?" One of the men, tall and lanky with red-orange hair, sat up, grinning.

The other man, a heavy bulky character with dark hair and extraordinarily big teeth, rolled over with a groan. "Ray, you right landed on me..._again_."

"Aw, shoot, Louis. Surely I ain't that heavy. Tiana, you all right there?"

"That was a little closer than I wanted it to be." The young lady - an African-American with huge, serious eyes and a lithe figure – heaved a small sigh of relief, flexing her fingers, and she started untangling the talisman from her ankle.

"Well, you all came back just in time. That was precisely our mission." The blond uncrossed her legs and stood up, smiling at the other three people. "Welcome back."

"Evangeline." Tiana stepped forward and held out the snake talisman to her. "We located this soul, and managed to save her."

"Good work." Evangeline's fist closed around the talisman. "I'll bring her back, not to worry. Where's Charlotte?"

"She's still back there, in the Mist. She was gonna wipe out our traces, and she'll return after that."

Evangeline nodded, and turned to go. "You three best take a rest now, and tell Charlotte the same when she comes back. There is more work to be done later. I need all four of you."

"More work." Louis groaned, and wandered off to a corner of the tree house, helping himself to some gumbo.

Evangeline looked at the three of them, seemingly debating with herself whether to tell what was on her mind. She decided to, as they had to know.

"We may have found him."

Ray drew his breath in sharply, and Louie's gumbo spoon clattered onto the floor. Tiana was the one that was seemingly unruffled, although her eyes flashed.

"The One. Neo."

"Yes." Evangeline nodded. "That is why all four of you are needed. We may even need more people. We cannot let Facilier get to him before we do, we need to bring him back to _our _reality."

"The war..." Ray began, looking just a little bit nervous, as Evangeline nodded.

"The war for freedom..." She looked at them, her gaze sweeping and serious. "...it will reach another level."

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Louis tucked into his fifth bowl of gumbo. He always ate a lot even if he was not nervous, and there was a note of tension in the air regarding this particular entry into the Mist.

Charlotte had returned, blond, bubbly, and pink, and after squeals and stories told - with a smirk - of how she clawed those dumb shadows, and how she managed to cleverly erase all their traces, she flounced off to her Daddy to announce the potential arrival of The One.

As for Tiana, she brooded. The arrival of The One was unnerving for most, but more so for her, for reasons she didn't quite want to admit nor think about.

"You fine, cher?" Ray asked kindly, settling down beside Tiana as she nestled her bowl of gumbo without eating it.

"Hmmm...? I supposed." She answered, just a little absent-mindedly, as Ray frowned.

"Tia, you not scared, are you?"

"What? No!" She laughed, and bumped her shoulder against Ray's in a friendly manner. "No, I guess it's a little daunting to think Neo really existed. We have been searching so long, I was startin' to think he wasn't real."

"Naw, Mama Odie would never make that sorta mistake."

Tiana bit her lip, and exhaled. "Ray, do you still remember what was it like?"

"You mean, in the Mist?"

"Well," he continued as Tiana nodded. "I can barely, really. But the Mist ain't real, Tia. Facilier made us think it was, and he would have our souls for himself, and that it for us. That why we don't stop fighting. We free everyone from the Mist, and end Facilier's charade."

Tiana smiled. "That day will come, won't it?"

"Seein' that we had been freeing souls and bringing people back to Maldon for close to a hundred years now, I reckon we're almost there." Ray pat Tiana's hand fondly. "Now go practise your shape-shifting now. We can only appear as humans for only thirty minutes beyond the bayou. You know we can't appear as ourselves once we enter the bayous of the Mist. The shadows will have us in a minute less. You gotta learn to sustain your froggy shape."

"I wonder what shape Neo will take." Tiana wondered out loud as Ray shrugged.

"Probably a lion or something mighty like that."

-----

Naveen pranced cheerfully down the streets of New Orleans, fingers strumming his ukulele and _relishing _his freedom. He felt just a bit bad about sneaking off and abandoning his parents while they met with some official mayor president person of the city, but Prince Naveen had a lot of ladies waiting for him.

As he rounded a corner, he spotted a bevy of ladies listening and clapping to a jazzy street band, and his heart soared. Hurrying over to the crowd and spectacle, Naveen jumped in, soaking in the cheers of the ladies and all the admiring eyes cast towards his way.

Ah, this was life indeed. He strummed the final chords, and grinned charmingly at all the ladies as they squealed and clapped. He was about to approach one of them, a stunning redhead giving him a coy look and a suggestive wink, and a hand grabbed his sleeve, stilling him.

Naveen turned to look, to see an African-American girl in a yellow dress. She did not have the kind of beauty that was able to make hundreds fall at her feet, but she was striking in her own way. Her eyes were wide and serious, her dark hair gathered into a tight ponytail, her figure slim, and her posture proud.

Well, he wouldn't mind this one. Leaning closer to her, he smiled, roguishly charming.

"Hello."

She moved closer to him, and Naveen grinned smugly. That was easy but then again, it always was. But the girl did not take his arm nor did she do anything that he normally expected. She stood on her tiptoes, her lips near his ear, and she said one word.

"Neo."

"What? No, no. You are very much mistaken. For I am Prince Naveen, of Maldonia."

The girl gave a slight start, but recovered so quickly that Naveen thought perhaps he had imagined her mild shock. She looked at him, the corner of her mouth lifting. She then held out her hand to him.

"Will you follow me?" She asked, her voice strong and clear.

"But of course. I will never refuse a woman, especially a pretty one." Naveen flirted, grabbing her hand, and was a little confused when she did not smile, or blush, or giggle, as most women would.

She tightened her fingers around his, and from her other hand, she drew out snake-shaped object.

"Open your mind."

"Open my...what?" Naveen was getting nervous, for this girl was just terribly strange and more than just a little scary.

Before he could say another word, however, there was a brilliant flash of light, bright and sharp, and Naveen cried out, averting his eyes, but he was too late, he was already blinded. Instinctively, he stumbled forward, and felt warm fingers around his as the girl steadied him.

"Open your mind...." She repeated, her voice commanding.

And that was the last thing he heard before he lost consciousness completely.

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to be continued

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Note: This is the completely whacked AU that I was formulating, thanks to a back-to-back marathon of the Matrix (one of my most favourite movies of all time). If you're familiar with the movie, you can tell that I have heavily borrowed a LOT of concepts from the movie, except I use voodoo and magic instead of sci-fi stuff and computers.

I hope this chapter isn't too confusing. The worlds and reasons and what not will be cleared up in the next chapter as Naveen tumbles further into the rabbit-hole, which was why things are ambiguous for now, because there will be a huge explanation sort of chapter.

I am more than just a little apprehensive about this idea (you may stone me if you wish so) so I would love love LOVE to hear feedback and reviews. :) They will be very very much appreciated indeed!


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